CONURBATIONS
A conurbation is a set of contiguous Census Metropolitan Areas & Agglomerations
(see below) forming one large urban area. Toronto anchors 3 separately recognized conurbations:
[1] The Greater Toronto Area (GTA), which is generally limited to the combined CMAs of Toronto, Hamilton
and Oshawa;
[2] The Golden Horseshoe (so named for it's arcing shape), which extends the GTA north to Barrie, west
to Kitchener, and south to the U.S. border at Niagara Falls; and
[3] Toronto-Buffalo, which crosses international boundaries connecting The Golden Horseshoe to the
Buffalo-Niagara Falls MSA.
(click column headers to sort data)

Area

Pop 2001

Pop 2006

Growth Rate

Toronto-Buffalo

7948278

8554594

7.6%

Golden Horseshoe

6816799

7406883

8.7%

Greater Toronto Area

5641596

6136654

8.8%

CENSUS METROPOLITAN AREAS & AGGLOMERATIONS
Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) are defined by Statistics Canada
as areas consisting of one or more adjacent municipalities situated around a major urban core of
at least 100,000 people. Census Agglomerations (CAs) are similar, smaller areas anchored by an
urban core of at least 10,000 people. The following is a list of the CAs and CMAs which comprise
the Golden Horseshoe conurbation. (click column headers to sort data)

Area

Pop 2001

Pop 2006

Growth Rate

Toronto

4682897

05113149

09.2%

Hamilton

0662401

0692911

04.6%

Kitchener-Waterloo

0414284

0451235

08.9%

St. Catharines-Niagara

0377009

0390317

03.5%

Oshawa

0296298

0330594

11.6%

Barrie

0148480

0177061

19.2%

Guelph

0117344

0127009

08.2%

Brantford

0118086

0124607

05.5%

MUNICIPALITIES
The following municipalities represent distinct components the Toronto CMA and are grouped by
local governing bodies, ie: Regional Municipality or County - calculated from Statistics Canada 2001 census data. (click column headers to sort data)

Area

Pop 2001

Pop 2006

Growth Rate

Toronto (City)

2481494

2503281

00.9%

Peel Region

0988948

1159405

17.2%

York Region

0729254

0892712

22.4%

Halton Region*

0224393

0274841

22.5%

Pickering-Ajax-Uxbridge

0178269

0197174

10.6%

Bradford-New Tecumseth

048369

051740

07.0%

Orangeville-Mono

032170

033996

05.7%

*excluding the city of Burlington (component of Hamilton CMA)

CITY DIVISIONS
Prior to 1998 each of the following 6 divisions were separate governments within the municipality
of Metropolitan Toronto. They merged to form a new City of Toronto in 1998, but are still
recognized as distinct components within the city. Source: Statistics Canada 2001 census data.
(click column headers to sort data)